Publications

This is an archived publication. It may be useful for researchers doing further work in this area as well as those developing improved testing and design procedures and is included because of its historical value

Hydraulic Design of Highway Culverts

Hydraulic Design of Highway Culverts, Hydraulic Design Series No. 5 (HDS-5), combines culvert design information previously contained in Hydraulic Engineering Circulars (HEC) No. 5, No. 10, and No. 13 with hydrologic, storage routing, and special culvert design information. The result is a comprehensive culvert design publication. Hydrologic analysis methods are described, and references cited. Culvert design methods are presented for both conventional culverts and culverts with inlet improvements. Storage routing techniques are included which permit the designer to account for ponding effects upstream of the culvert. Unique culvert applications, erosion and sediment control, debris control, structural aspects, and long-span culverts are discussed and references cited. Inlet control, outlet control, and critical depth design charts, many of which are newly developed, are included for a variety of culvert sizes, shapes, and materials. New dimensionless culvert design charts are provided for the design of culverts lacking conventional design nomographs and charts. The appendices of the publication contain the equations and methodology used to construct the design charts, information on the hydraulic resistance of culverts, and methods of optimizing culvert design using performance curves and inlet depression. Calculation forms are provided for most of the design methodologies in the manual.